Saturday, March 24, 2012

Mail Call

At the end of January I decided to take a challenge to send mail
everyday (that the post is in service) for the month of February. I'd say that I probably usually send more mail than the average person
in the US (even with doing my bills online). I really like sending
mail. Even for me, this was a still a big challenge. I found that in the day time
I was at work and didn't have time to make mail, write letters, draw
envelopes, or put together packages. So I would usually end up doing
this at night and send it the next day. I had an arsenal of stamps
(thanks USPS online shop!) that I tried to sort of match the stamp for
the recipient like a steamy Gregory Peck for my lady friends, Pixar
character for the little kids and so on. After the first week or two I
quickly got behind, so I changed my rules to sending an equal amount of
letters (to postal days) by the end of the week so my weekends were spent
putting together little packets of sunshine. I found this worked best
for me and I often went over my number of letters that were supposed to
go out for the week.

I think in total for the month of February I sent
36 pieces of mail. I tried to document both what I made and sent (I
didn't keep up with that as good as I should have) and what I received
in the mail. We are now in March, and I'd say I am still sending about
1-3 pieces of mail a week still. I really got into drawing
envelopes, I am thinking this might happen on a grander and more thought
out scale eventually. And one day I found a bag of googly eyes, and
this amused me more than it probably should for a 26 year old adult. Sometimes I am easily amused.

Here are a few pieces of mail....

front and back of one of my favorite envelopes I drew (and it even made
it through the INTERNATIONAL POSTAL SYSTEM which was the most shocking
part)
This was probably my favorite envelope.

I haven't sent this one yet, but I think it'll be great. The return
address will go on the girl's bow and the address between her eyes.

Some quiet encouragement.

Gone fishing, the address goes on the back of the bear.

Happy Valentines and what not, you know just the usual unicorns and dogs riding oriole birds type of greeting...

Some good things in small packages.

Clear envelopes... my mail man laughed at me when I asked him if he
thought they'd make it through and his face said "no" but he only said
"maybe". They arrived and were well received in a few days time.

Sent a lot of postcards, and made some mashups of my own postcards.

Sent some care packages to my grandparents.

Got some cool mail too, including a wood box that I've started storing my envelopes in.

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About Me

Karly Fae Hansen is an artist living in Baltimore Maryland. She graduated magna cum laude from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2008. Some of Karly Fae’s art has been exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Goucher College, Load of Fun gallery, Northwest Studio, Maryland Institute College of Art, and the Radisson Hotel of Cross Keys.